Millions of people play poker online for money

People from all over the world play poker online for money and it's an extremely popular way of making some extra cash. There are several poker sites in operation, offering an array of different games. Pokerstars, Paradise Poker, Paddy Power Poker and Boylesports Poker are just some of the sites where you might make your fortune.

The main types of poker games available online are Texas Hold 'em, Omaha and stud. The basic rules of poker are the same for all 3 games, but there are slight variations between them.

For instance, in Texas Hold 'em each player starts off with 2 cards, while in Omaha, they get 4 cards, but can only use 2 of them to make a hand. In stud, players get either 5 or 7 cards. Some cards are made public and others are kept private.

In all online poker games, players can either play cash games or tournaments. There's a big difference between the two, and many people find they're better suited to one or the other.

Cash games involve playing with real money against other players for an unspecified period of time. If you lose your stack you can rebuy at any time. There are different sized cash games, with a limit on how much you can bring to each game.

In tournaments, you pay a certain amount at the start of the game and that's all you can lose. When you lose all of your chips, you're out of the game. There's usually no limit on how many players can enter tournaments and the top 10 per cent of the field are paid.